"Nice
to see them investing in more first-party gaming, and [the subscription
service] Game Pass is looking like a better and better offer," added
Stephen Totilo, the editor-in-chief of games news website Kotaku.

Microsoft's
rivals Sony and Nintendo will preview their own titles later in the week.

Slower sales

Sales of the
Xbox One lag far behind those of Sony's console, which has made it a challenge
for Microsoft to convince third-party publishers to restrict games to its
platforms.

At the end
of March, 39.1 million Xbox Ones had been purchased worldwide - encompassing
all versions of the games machine - according to market research firm IHS
Markit. By contrast, 76.6 million units of the various PlayStation 4 consoles
had been bought.

But Microsoft
went into E3 with two advantages.

The Xbox One
X - released last November - boasts more powerful graphics hardware than the
PlayStation 4 Pro.

And
Microsoft offers Xbox Game Pass - a Netflix-like subscription service that
offers access to more than 100 titles including new first-party releases.

The firm
revealed that the service would soon benefit from FastStart - a new facility
that will use "machine learning techniques" to speed up game-loading
times, although it did not explain how.

In addition,
it revealed several third-party big-name releases from the past - including
enhanced editions of Fallout 4 and Tom Clancy's The Division - were being
added.

The focus of
E3, however, is new titles.

Microsoft
kicked off its event with a trailer for the new Halo game, which Xbox chief
Phil Spencer described as Master Chief's "greatest adventure yet".

But he
declined to return to the game, leaving a fuller reveal to a later date.

Instead,
other exclusives were given more time, including new footage from the
highly-anticipated action-adventure sequel Crackdown 3.

The
British-developed title had originally been scheduled for release in 2016 but
has suffered multiple delays. It was confirmed that, as rumoured, the launch
has been set back again, with the new sale date set as February 2019.

Crackdown 3 is Microsoft’s version of Sony’s
The Last Guardian: we talk about it every year and never actually expect it to
come out

— Michael Pachter (@michaelpachter) June
10, 2018

Another
exclusive, Forza Horizon 4, is due for release this year.

This time
round, the multiplayer driving game is being set on the UK's roads.

A demo shown
on stage featured a hovercraft, in addition to the racing cars normally
associated with the series.

It is set
for a 2 October launch.

What's gonna happen to #forza when cars are
all self driving? #XboxE3

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) June
10, 2018

New content
was also announced for the Xbox and Windows exclusive Sea of Thieves. The
pirate-themed title has previously been described by Microsoft as its
"fastest-selling first-party new intellectual property" of the
current generation of hardware.

The DLC
(downloadable content) pack Cursed Sails is due in July, and Forsaken Shores in
September.

And the
audience cheered the reveal of Gears 5 - the latest entry in Microsoft's
third-person military sci-fi shooter Gears of War series.

The trailer
appeared to place a female protagonist at its centre for the first time.

In addition,
two spin-offs to the series are planned: a title for smartphones and a strategy
game for PCs.

Mr Spencer
addressed Xbox's need to secure further Xbox and Windows-only titles in the
future, part way through his presentation.

Image
caption Microsoft has been on a spending spree to secure exclusive content

"We
know that exclusive games from our Microsoft Studios are what originally turned
so many of us into Xbox fans," he declared.

"This
is why we are increasing our investment in our existing franchises that you
already love and this is why we are amplifying our investment in new
worlds."

To help
achieve this, he revealed that Microsoft had acquired two of the UK's leading
indie studios:

Playground Games - the Leamington Spa studio
responsible for the Forza Horizon racing series

Ninja Theory - the Cambridge-based
developer of Devil May Cry and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, which recently won
five Bafta awards

In addition,
Mr Spencer revealed Microsoft had purchased Undead Labs - the US studio behind
the State of Decay zombie games - and Canada's Compulsion Games, which is
working on the crowdfunded retro-futuristic title We Happy Few.

The
executive added that his firm had also created a new US-based studio, called
The Initiative, which will be led by Darrell Gallagher, who previously oversaw
2013's Tomb Raider reboot.

"These
five new teams will have the resources, the platform and creative independence
to take bigger risks," Mr Spencer added.

One
company-watcher commented that the moves effectively doubled the amount of
games studios owned by the tech giant.

"It
will take time to reap the rewards of this expansion strategy, but it puts
Microsoft on a much stronger footing," said Piers Harding-Rolls from IHS.

The chief
executive of the British games trade body Ukie was among others to welcome the
news.

"Great
to see some of the best British games studios featuring so highly in
Microsoft's strategy for the future," tweeted Jo Twist.

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